History & Interviews - Jimmy Somerville	Page 1 von x
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How are things going with the new album? Kind of slow, but it´s okay.  We are doing good songs... with ‚we´ I mean, people who don´t tend to be producers, rather more in the line of Djs!  They take their time as they have other projects to do.  We don´t have any time scale for the album but I think the release will roughly be round about Autumn because there is still some stuff to be done in August with the German band Rosenstolz.   We will be doing some recording together for the album.  So I think the album will probably be much more towards the end of the year. There have been rumours that you will be doing something with Rosenstolz... so now you are confirming this? Yeah, yeah, we will be doing something in August... with them and with another German band.... which I can´t really pronounce... Zwei Raum Wohnung... that´s what they are called, I believe! So what can your fans expect music wise on the new album?  Is it dance-oriented? You know it´s kinda strange as it´s quite a mixture of stuff.   As we still haven´t finished everythig, it´s difficult to choose what´s gonna be on the album and what is not going to be on it!  It just may end up being  more dance-oriented!  It may also be a bit harder. It´s difficult at the moment because of the war and the situation in the world at the moment because that naturally affects the lyrics.  It difficult for me at the moment not to be writing lyrics which are not dark and kind of depressing really.  I have to get through this period first and then focus on being detached from  these emotions which are effecting my writing!   It´s a strange time to be writing pop songs really.  A lot of the lyrics are dark and I don´t know how the whole thing will be by the time it´s finished!   Anyway, so far each song is quite diverse... a strange mix.  For example, I did one with Ralf Elmar from Jam & Spoon!  People have expected it to be a techno track but it´s not.... it´s got srings and classical guitar and kinda has that classical ballad sound... nothing like you´d imagine someone from Jam & Spoon doing!   There really are some strange things coming out of the project! You being a person of great political awareness, has anything come up so far that has been inspired by the war? Yeah, but more on a personal scale.  What effects me most is that this war is frightening.  There are really two elements to it.  A lot of these young American and British soldiers who are going to this part of the world are very christian, very religious.  They have christian ideals and they are going to a muslim country... to people with a different God.  So, it´s two kinds of peoples... two different Gods and they are all facing each other.  This effects me!  Also how does this effect the mothers of these boys, how are the people themselves effected by fighting another person who prays to another God?  So for me it´s more on a smaller scale.  It´s not about bombs and distruction, it´s more about how this all makes people feel inside.  At the moment I seem to be doing some songs which deal with the point of view of a mother and her son and how she is effected by the death of her christian son in a muslim country! So it´s kinda dark! With which producers have you been working with so far? Tom Novi.  He´s a Dj-producer. Did a really nice track with him.  There was also a guy called Tilmann.  He is a radio guy-Dj-producer!  And Felix Gauder, the track with him is probably the most commercial track so far!  With Felix Gauder the track was very house, very popy but that´s good!  So far that´s what I´ve been doing.  There is also a guy called Soul who lives in Munich, Germany.  He´s quite interesting... he´s a crazy character.  Soundwise he´s quite a genius!  These are things which are actually in progress at the moment.  Mmm, let me think, who else do we have?  Yeah Maro Pekurto, I´m working on one with him at the moment and we are looking at a few other people who we want to work with! There are quite of them On the last Alum you worked with Sally your room mate, has she done anything this time around´production wise? No not so much.  A couple of songs are numbers which Sally and I have written, but we are just having people produce them for us! Is there a name for the album as yet? It´s so difficult. I´m not so sure... but the working titel for the album at the moment is "Collaborator" because it´s all colaborations with different kinds of people and that is of course a good word.  I think also it is almost the same in German and other languages, so it´s a good working titel at the moment! What about a first single?  Fans are really waiting for one, you know! Oh, I don´t have a clue what that might be! I´m not really sure.   Hopefully by the summer we´ll know!  Robin, the record company owner would like to get something ready for the summer for the likes of Ibiza and for the other clubs in summer, then to get a single out and then the album.  That´s the plan! Do you like coming to Germany? Yeah, I do.  I´ve been coming here for so long and have become very familiar with the place. I´ve been touring in Germany since 1984. I think the first time I came here was in March 1984.  It´s been a long time and I´ve seen changes as well, especially in the eastern part... which I wasn´t able to visit before the reunification.  (Jimmy´s telephone rings - the ringing tone is a sample of the beginning of a Heaven 17 track) How has the work be going with Media Records? You know, it´s great because with the Lyrics and writing them I have been having real kinds of problems... because of the whole war thing and how it has been affecting my mood... it´s been pretty dark.  I had a discussion with Robin who is the boss of the record company and he has been fantastic.  He has said, Jimmy you can´t do things like a robot.  You have to go with your emotions and how you feel.   If that´s how it is at the moment, then that is how it is.  It´s okay to wait for the time where you feel comfortable... so they´ve been really great.... because Robin wants it to be perfect, he just doesn´t want to throw some songs together and make an album.  He want´s it to be a good album, a special album. What can fans expect on the stage in the future... will it be the same team of Jimmy, Gillian and Mathew? I think so... maybe when the album is finished we´ll all go on then road and do something live... even with a band... but for the time being it´ll only be me Mathew and Gillian. What is a typical Jimmy Somerville day? Well, for the last few weeks it has just been hangovers.  Otherwise it´s usually not a lot `cause I´m quite a lazy person.  I get up in the morning, do some housework, go off on my bicycle and just spend my day cycling around town and visiting people or just cycling through the city which I really like to do... or spending time at home doing nothing when I´m supposed to be working or writing.  Otherwise various other things which are really quite boring... really boring, I´m a really boring person!   THANKS TO JIMMY  FOR GIVING THE INTERVIEW . ALSO THANKS TO JEROME, FOR THE SUPPORT DURING THE INTERVIEW AND FOR HIS HELP MAKING THIS PAGE.

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